Friday 28 February 2014

Nervous in Nairobi

Driving in Nairobi is proving to be a terrifying experience! BUT I am out there doing what I have to do, getting on with the driving in order to get around this big city. Here's the proof... although the picture does not do justice to the fear and trembling I am feeling as I drive nervously around Nairobi!

So what makes me so nervous to drive in Nairobi? Well, here a few factors:

  • The huge number of cars on the roads here has increased faster than the infrastructure, meaning that roads are crowded and poorly equipped for the volume of heavy traffic. There are multiple traffic jams up and down Nairobi's hilly roads.
  • Nairobi's high crime rate. I hear of car-jacking incidents, theft through car windows (one lady we know of had her necklace snatched off her neck as she sat in stationary traffic with the car window wound down), hold-up situations where armed gun-men on the street demand money, bags and jewelry from motorists while pointing guns at the car (I heard that one of these incidents happened last week not far from the children's school). 
I have been briefed that it is always best to drive with all windows up, all doors locked and never to stop for so-called "emergencies" on the roadside. The first week that we were here, I saw a lady apparently having an epileptic fit on the road, with another lady bending over here looking very concerned. Unsure what to do, I phoned another local MAF lady. Her advice?
"Never stop! This is a very common scam. It could be an ambush to get you to stop. If you do, the criminals will jump into your car for a car-jacking". 
ARGH!!! What a terrible thought! Especially when Joel is almost certainly going to be belted into his car-seat. I don't even want to think about what the possible consequences of that could be...
  • Lack of respect for road rules. Not much different from driving in Tanzania in that area! Here is a shot of my drive to school with Esther and Ben one drizzly Nairobi morning:
 I am second in a line of cars trying to turn right from a single-carriageway onto Nairobi's very busy Gitanga Road. Two cars in the queue behind me obviously got fed up with waiting in line! Instead, they have jumped the queue- one car to the right of me and one to the left, driving up the muddy pavement!
The car to my right has now blocked the right hand lane on our road, meaning that another vehicle on Gitanga Road is unable to turn into our road and is forced to wait, stuck in the middle of the heavy traffic on Gitanga Road, creating a worse blockage!
 Meanwhile, there seemed to be a problem with the minibus, which was holding up traffic too. You can see a man in dark red clothes who hopped into the centre of the road to do some impromptu directing of traffic to try and clear up the tangle of cars! When I eventually edged forward to take my chances on my right-hand turn, he kept hammering on my bonnet to get me to follow his directives, but I am also advised that it is best to make my own decisions to get through these messy traffic muddles.
At least all this drama makes the school run interesting, even if it adds to journey time and to my stress levels!

  • Lack of road markings. Several 4-way junctions that I am obliged to use when getting to shops or to school have absolutely no markings, no traffic lights, no round-about, but there are so many cars each trying to get through; to the left, to the right or straight. Not everyone indicates. For me, these junctions are knee-wobbling moments in my Nairobi driving experience! It is a test of sheer aggression to push through the other cars to get to the side you are aiming for, mixed with the need to be highly alert to where other motorists may be headed! Last Thursday, I saw 3 car accidents at 3 different junctions before noon! The cars involved had all been bumped by cars coming from another direction. This does not exactly fill me with confidence as I brace myself for each new junction challenge!
  • Just when I was celebrating the fact that I was out and about in the car, I came back down to earth with a literal bump, as I realised the extent of Nairobi's pot-holes! Here's a couple of minor ones outside Esther and Ben's new school:


I am nervous about getting a puncture or breaking down with all these pot-holes- the last thing I want to do with a car full of children on congested city roads, with opportunist robbers apparently lurking around every corner!!

  • Traffic police are often out in force looking for opportunities to book motorists for driving offences. If I inadvertently offend, I could end up in jail for a few hours and then in court to plead my case. Last week, our American neighbour was arrested for doing a U-turn on a main road and a Swiss MAF colleague arrested and hand-cuffed for changing lanes on a roundabout! That scares me!

To counter the nerves and to keep on driving, I have been given some sound advice about driving here. The first one is my favourite!

  1. Drive like you're the only driver who is sober
  2. Stay on high alert- check mirrors, check mirrors, check mirrors ( for motorbikes over or under-taking, men pushing trolleys, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as other usual vehicles or even the odd horse or camel we have spotted on the roads here!)
  3. In traffic jams, stop your car a few feet away from the vehicle in front: enough space to be able to get out if you need to but not enough to let an unscrupulous driver push in front of you! It's a tough one to judge...
  4. Be nice, be polite but be careful what you say to traffic officers if they stop you - and swot up on Kenyan road laws! Keep all your relevant documents to hand.
So much to remember! So many hazards! It's scary, but it's necessary to drive in this city, so here's hoping that the nerves and trembling ease off over time!!

Thursday 20 February 2014

New in Nairobi

So here we are in Nairobi.

And here is a view of our new home and the gated street in which we are living...
The Yellow House- our Nairobi town-house home:

The MAF compound view from our front door. Our door opens onto a sea of concrete with a distant vista of the heavy locked gate at the end of the mini-street, barbed wire, electricity wires and tall buildings!

Out the back, we have a little yard with a shady patio...

 ...and a tall banana tree which was laden with almost-ripe bananas until last Saturday, when Andrew decided to harvest them. Here are the harvesting action shots...

Down come the bananas, crashing through the leaves and creating a heavy hazard as they pick up speed on their ground-ward flight...

Having some bananas from the tree in our garden made me feel a little bit like we are still living in Africa. Other aspects of life here do not feel anything like the Africa we came to know and love in Tanzania. Nairobi is a well developed, cosmopolitan city with a high crime threat and with an easy availability of goods we only dreamed about when we lived in Dodoma. In many ways, it is the opposite of Dodoma! It is a tough adjustment for us to a very different type of African living.

There are other obvious differences too- look at the beds in our house:
 It was startling to come into a house where beds DO NOT HAVE MOSQUITO- NETS!!! Apparently, there is very little malaria in Nairobi, partly because of its high altitude. This is very different from Dodoma, where a mosquito net is a necessity and becomes a part of the whole bed-time routine.

However, having said that, there are still mosquitoes! Their midnight whining is incredibly frustrating as they fly low over sleepy ears. I am getting a bit fed up with their rude awakenings in the wee small hours! First there is the sound of the low whine... then the lights go on, bursting into my consciousness. Next, Andrew's mozzie-chase begins, which starts by Andrew flapping about the room brandishing a cloth to swat the little monsters, jumping over the bed, muttering as they escape the swatting implement... and then finally, "victory!" as they are duly caught and squashed! Peaceful darkness resumes and sleep seems so wonderfully close again... until... bzzzzzz- it all starts over again!! I have to say that I am sitting in Nairobi wishing that I had packed our mozzie net in our suitcase!! Instead, it is sitting in one of our boxes in Dodoma, all packed up for Juba!! I may just have to drive down to one of Nairobi's many shopping centres and invest in a new net- but driving in Nairobi is a whole new challenge for me and not one that I am relishing! I think I will write more about that new challenge on my next blog entry...

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Limbo Land

Until December 15th 2013, we fully expected that, by the end of February, we would be on our way to our new home in Juba, South Sudan. But December 15th marked the sad date when fighting broke out in the world's newest nation.

Since then, we have been strongly advised that now is not the time to take a young family into Juba! So we find ourselves living temporarily in Nairobi. Here, Andrew can work alongside MAF Kenya with the possibility of flying into South Sudan as a Kenya-based pilot, once his air-law exams are passed and his caravan flying hours are at the required level.

We are not sure how long "temporary" means. Looking at BBC news is disheartening. Conflict continues and the situation in South Sudan remains too volatile for us to move into, but judging when exactly will be the "right time" is going to be difficult.

In the meantime, we will remain in Kenya- living in a strange state of limbo, not sure how long we will be here, how settled we should get, how much effort we should put into joining in events in Nairobi.

Most of our belongings are still stored in Dodoma. Our temporary house in Nairobi is kitted out with borrowed MAF housing equipment, which is useful to have and many of the kitchen items are lovely and shiny and new. However, I miss those extra home comforts...such as lamp-shades on the glaring light bulbs suspended above our heads, a doormat to prevent muddy footprints, our rugs to take the chill off the cold floor and cushions to relax a little on the rather hard MAF sofa! I miss our own familiar bedding, our pictures and family photos which would brighten up the bare, white-bland walls of this rented house. The children miss their toys and books and Joel keeps asking for his sand-pit from the Dodoma garden! It is hard to know how many home-based items we should go out and buy and then sell on later, or should we rather just wait until our own goods get here? First, Andrew must get a Kenya work permit in order to import goods and secondly, we must decide whether our boxes should come here to Nairobi or be flown direct to Juba- if we are to move there anytime in the next few months?

So this is an unusual time, with many questions that cannot yet be answered. So for this period, my blog is named to reflect the life we are living right now as we wait, on hold, in Nairobi- a land of limbo for us!